Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Investing in educating IVF patients

Most patients are quite amazed by how much time , money and energy we invest in developing resources for educating IVF patients . While I love teaching, I also do this for selfish reasons ! It’s not that educating patients helps me get more patients and grow my practice – this is just one of the fringe benefits ! What’s far more valuable is that thanks to these resources, our patients have a much better understanding of what IVF treatment entails.

The outcome of an IVF cycle is always uncertain, so that no matter how good a doctor I am , and however hard I work, there is no certainty the patient will get pregnant.

While poorly informed patients will often blame the doctor for the failure, and then hunt for a new IVF clinic, patients who have taken the time and trouble to make good use of our resources and become expert patients appreciate the effort and hard work we have put it. Even if the outcome is not good, they can appreciate that we have followed the correct process. It’s only patients who understand the technical niceties who can appreciate the quality of the work we do. They can figure out why we are much better than other IVF clinics. Patients who are ignorant and clueless , because they treat IVF as a black box which is beyond their understanding, will not be able to differentiate between a good IVF doctor and a bad clinic.

They are often unhappy and bitter when their cycle fails, and will often vent that anger on the doctor. A well-informed patient , by contrast, understands that we have done our best , and finds it much easier to deal with the ups and downs of an IVF cycle in a rational fashion .

Unhappy patients can create a lot of stress for the doctor; and this is why we do our best to make sure our patients are well-informed. We are open and transparent, and this means that our patients are happy with the quality of medical care receive, so that they can partner with us effectively , thus maximizing their chances of having a baby . Happy patients make for happy doctors , and this is the reason we invest so much in patient education !

Want to learn more about how you can maximise your chances of IVF success ? Please send me your medical details by filling in the form at www.drmalpani.com/malpaniform.htm so that I can guide you better !